BEEEEEEAAAAAAA IIIITS YOUR BIRTHDAY! THE SONG HEY SHAWTY ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY WOULD BE REALLY FITTING BUT YOU'D HIT US UPSIDE THE HEAD IF WE PLAYED IT BECAUSE YOU'RE 'OH SO TALL' BUT HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU GORGEOUS LITTLE PUFFLE DEVIL HULK THING AND HAVE THE BEST DAY EVER <3

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS HAVE COMMENCED! Homes and London Town are now open to Students!

Little help, please?

Bea was lying on the floor where the woman left her. She was still curled up, clutching her arm. Her whole body ached and truth be told, she wanted to die. But giving up, giving in to death would mean that people like that wretched woman won. She had once read somewhere that living is the best revenge. And anyway, there were other people to consider. Her parents, Lucy, Kiva. She may not have had a lot of friends, but she loved the ones she had and no one would take them away from her. Or her away from them.

So, after a while of gathering strength, Bea pulled herself on her knees and clutched the wall for support. The second her left foot touched the floor, a searing pain shot through her ankle and with a loud cry, she fell back on the floor. So much for getting up. Never in her life has she felt as defeated as in that moment. There was no way she could get back to Hogwarts now. Her wand was broken and so was her ankle, apparently. "God fucking dammit." she cursed, angry tears forming in her eyes.

So Louis wasn't particularly sure where he was. He'd gone to meet up with Evra - whom he hadn't seen in ages - on a slightly impromptu mission, perhaps something to do with the copious amounts of coca cola he had consumed today during work, leaving him with a slight buzz - when he'd heard something.

Frowning, he had plucked up the minimal amount of Gryffindor courage he had left nowadays. Which really was minimal. He was always hurting himself too often for it to be that high. But still, curiosity got the better of him, and that was how Louis found himself in the back alleys, wand out, looking around.

"Hello?" he called out in the strongest voice he could muster. "Is everything alright?" Who the hell was he asking that to? Gosh Louis, you idiot.

He was about to turn around to go back to the village when he heard swearing. Spinning round on his heel as he shone his wandlight ahead of him, his breath hitched as he saw a shape. "Are you okay?" he asked, before he recognised the blonde hair and face of his friend. "Bea?" he asked, darting forward. "Shit. Bea, you okay? What happened?"

Bea's head jerked upwards as she thought she heard something. But it could have been her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe it was a side effect of being tortured, maybe the woman cursed her to hear things that weren't really there. She wouldn't put it past the woman to do that, for christ's sake, she drank Bea's tears!

No, there it was again. Oh, thank Merlin, she wasn't hearing things and there was actually someone there to help her.

"Louis! I'm- no, actually. My ankle hurts and my arm, as well. Actually everything hurts, but whatever. Some woman attacked me, I took a wrong turn and she was behind me and she was wearing a mask and she broke my wand and and she took my blood and I couldn't stop her... I couldn't stop her," Bea was sobbing now, the aftermath of shock of being tortured and so damn helpless caught up with her.

Louis sprinted towards her, dropping to her knees beside her and reaching out to support her, when he touched her arm and felt something wet on his hands. Looking down, his stomach churned as he saw the blood, but he took a deep breath. He owed Bea big time.

"A... a woman in a mask?" he asked, biting his lip as he tried to help support her. He could apparate them out of here, couldn't he? He could get her to the hospital, or to Shell Cottage. His mother could help... This all sounded too familiar. "Shit," he muttered. And what was he gonna tell Lucy? Should he go find her? What was he supposed to do?

"Okay, Bea, I'm gonna get you to Mungo's, okay?" he said, looking at her. "You okay? Can you hold out? What was this woman like?"

Bea was trying to calm down and not sob hysterically in Louis' arms, but she wasn't doing a very good job. In her defence, she had just been tortured. She wanted to go to her bed, curl up and sleep for about ten days. She wanted Lucy to hug her and tell her everything will be alright. But most of all, she wanted to get out of this miserable alleyway.

As she heard Louis' words, she calmed a bit, knowing full well they'll take care of her in Mungo's. Just as they have done to her father. Oh god, her parents. They'll be sick with worry and Bea absolutely hated it when they worried.

She nodded, forcing herself to break out a tiny smile. Louis was being so wonderful, helping her like that. "I- I don't think I can walk, my ankle hurts like hell." Bea's voice was shaking and she was still doing her best not to sob.

"I don't know, but it was the same one that attacked us at the Ministry. We-we escaped her that time, but I couldn't-" her voice broke. "She's crazy, Louis. S-she took my b-blood." she told him after taking a few deep breathes.

This was undoubtedly the same woman. Only she would have done something as completely crazy as that. His chest was proof enough. "She took your blood?" he repeated, his eyes widening in disgust. That evil psychotic bitch. He put his arm around her, hugging her to him, and shushed her. "It's alright, hon. It's alright. Let's get out of here, okay?"

Now, if only he could apparate. Closing his eyes to ignore the slightly woozy feeling that had overtaken him at the sight of Bea's blood, Louis grabbed his wand and concentrated. He did not want to end up splinching her. That would not be a good end to the day.

Arriving at the hospital, Louis looked up from the position he was supporting Bea in and yelled for a nurse. "Can I get some help please?" he asked, the worry plain in his voice. She'd be okay. He had to keep telling himself that. "You're alright," he said to Bea, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner and not a pained terrified little boy glance. But he was curious, nonetheless, and it was taking all of his might not to start bombarding her with questions. He knew first hand what it felt like to be tortured, and this was not one of the things that he would have wanted, to be attacked with a shitload of difficult questions. Instead, he just continued to smile, even if it was to help combat his own anxiousness.

Bea nodded into Louis' chest and closed her eyes; she finally felt somewhat safe. She knew Louis wouldn't hurt her and that he will get her out of here. Her whole body still ached and it felt so good to be hugged, to be close to someone she knew for a fact would never do her any harm.

She tried her best to stay in the upwards position and to transfer her weight on her good leg and on Louis. She really owed him for this, but she couldn't think about that now, as she was too weak and was using all her energy to not faint.

Feeling a pair of hands try to pry her away from Louis, she startled and flinched away from the touch. Yes, she saw it was a healer who was looking at her with concern, but she couldn't bring herself to trust her. She knew the lady probably won't hurt her in any way, but Bea still clung to Louis with fear written all over her face. Once again tears streamed down her face as she was shaking her head no. Her heart was beating faster and she heard the lady saying something, but the memories of events before were swimming in front of her eyes.

When the healer tried to peel Bea away from him, she flinched, and Louis hugged her tighter, before looking at the healer. "Please can I come with her?" he pleaded with her. When he had been attacked Dom had taken him home and anaesthetised him so she could leave, so he hadn't known not being with her. He didn't much fancy having being handed over to some strange healer to be prodded and poked when he was shitting it. "Please?" he repeated, pulling his most persuasive face. He felt sort of guilty for playing on his genes, but he couldn't see any other way of getting the woman to allow him to come with Bea.

She looked as if she wanted to protest, but finally (after some puppy-dog eyes on Louis's part) she agreed, and Louis helped Bea back up to her feet to guide her to follow the healer. "It's alright, sweet." He helped her to the office, before sitting her down on the bed, before realising the healer was speaking to him.

"I don't know exactly what happened," he answered, biting his lip. "I just... I was going to see my girlfriend..." Fucking hell, he'd forgotten about that. Evra would be alright, wouldn't she? "I heard her scream, and she's my friend, so I had to help... she said something about a woman taking her blood..." He felt a little bit sick at the thought. "I don't know much else. She just... please help her."

With her eyes closed, Bea clung to Louis and only moved when she heard him promise he'll go with her. She didn't usually trust people this quickly, but he did safe her and help her, so she trusted him more than anyone in that moment. The librarian walked into a room with Louis' help and sat on a bed because apparently, that was what Louis wanted.

She watched the Healer apprehensively while trying to take deep breaths and convincing herself that the Healer was there to help. While Louis was talking, Bea looked around the room and it reminded her of the time her father was in the hospital. He was here because of the attack on the Ministry and now she was here because of the same woman. The attacks had to stop, the woman and her people had to be stopped.

The Healer was now examining her and Bea let her because she knew the woman was going to help her. As Bea was watching her arm get healed, she realized the woman was talking to her.

"Sorry?" she said and the Healer smiled."Do you remember what happened?" Bea nodded."Can you tell me, please?"Bea looked down at her lap where she was fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "I-I was walking back to school and I took a wrong turn and then there she was and I couldn't see who because, because she had a mask and there was fog all around. But her voice... It was the same woman who attacked us at the Ministry. And she was saying something about p-puppets and I think she used the Imperius Curse on me and I fell and there's something wrong with my ankle. Then she broke my w-wand. Oh my god, she broke my wand. What am I going to do? I can't live without my wand!" her voice broke as tears of despair started falling down her cheeks once again.

The Healer tried to calm her down, telling her she can buy a new wand and if she could please go on. After a few minutes, with a glass of water in her hands, Bea was calm enough to tell the rest of the story."She tortured me, my skin felt like it was boiling and there was so muchpain. I... I wanted to die." she whispered. "Then I remember her being all sweet and she was caressing me and I thought it was Lucy, but it was her. And then she cut my hand and collected the blood. She said when- when we meet again, she'll recognize me and I her." Bea felt nauseated. Somehow, telling the story was harder than she thought it would be. There were things she had to really think about whether they actually happened or whether it was just her imagination. But sadly, all was real.

Now she felt the Healer work her magic around her ankle and she instantly felt better, though there was still pain. She drank something the Healer gave her and started to feel sleepy. She looked at Louis and wanted to thank him for everything, but her head felt so heavy and she couldn't gather the energy to talk.

This was horrible. Truly horrible. Louis felt sick to his stomach as he listened to what had happened to Bea, trying to push back any of the memories from the Ministry that were trying to spring forward. All he could do was continue to hold onto Bea, despite the fact that this sort of limited the access the Healer could get to her.

She did not look well at all, and Louis didn't know particularly what to do. He could take her back to Hogwarts, but he couldn't apparate into it, and he didn't particularly want to be in Hogsmeade this late. For starters, he wasn't sure he had the energy to.

"Bea," he said softly, hugging her to him, "I'm gonna take you back to mine." Okay, that sounded creepy. Quick, Lou, save it. "You know my sister's a healer, right? Well, so's my Maman, and she could probably help. You can have my bed, I'll crash on the sofa..." Mind you, he was a boy, and his room wasn't exactly tidy. "It's all gonna be okay. I'll call in sick to work tomorrow and take you back to Hogwarts, okay? You'll be fine."